Mark Williams reignites war of words with fellow snooker legend Stephen Hendry

Snooker star hit back at after his 4-0 win over Jamie Clarke at the Northern Ireland Open, saying "it's easy in the commentary box" following criticism from the pundit last month.

after Hendry slammed his "horrific" performance at the British Open, where he went out in the first round after a 4-1 loss to Rory Thoras - failing to defend the title he won in style against Mark Selby last year.

Hendry - who is one of the greatest players of all time - said: "It was a very, very poor performance. He’s using a new cue. I hope he was paid nicely because it’s going to derail his season.

"It’s going to take him a bit of getting used to. It sounded horrific and his play was horrific. It was very, very bad."

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The commentator's words did not go down well with Williams, who blasted Hendry on and called him a "tit" - and now he has reopened their feud by taking a swipe at the seven-time champion following his return to form.

"It's easy in the commentary box isn't it," he told Eurosport. "We've seen his comeback, how that ended up. He can't say too much. Perhaps he should use [a new cue], might play a bit better."

Hendry retired from snooker in 2012 after the Scot's seven titles wins between 1990 and 1999, racking up a total of 36 ranking titles, second only to Ronnie O'Sullivan's 41.

He returned to the sport in 2020 but failed to recapture his old form, suffering a succession of defeats and admitted his performances were "embarrassing" before deciding to retire again earlier this year.

Williams, meanwhile, is a three-time world champion after triumphs in 2000, 2003 and 2018 - picking up the nickname "The Welsh Potting Machine".

Williams and Hendry have previously clashed in the past, with the former calling his rival "an idiot" on social media in 2022 after Hendry criticised him for practising with training partner Jackson Page ahead of his match against him at the World Championship.

Hendry advised Page to "stay away" from his close friend in the run-up to the last-16 match. Williams described that opinion as "nonsense" and proceed to beat the younger man 13-3. Page did at least get some sort of revenge, beating Williams 4-3 at the WST Classic in 2023.